


Here's Hoping We Meet Now and Then

by onekisstotakewithme



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Episode: s11e16 Goodbye Farewell and Amen, Everyone Loves Hawkeye, Found Family, Gen, Nostalgia, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-11-12 14:24:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18012587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onekisstotakewithme/pseuds/onekisstotakewithme
Summary: It’s the last day in Korea, and the weather seems to have gotten the message that peace has been called.The 4077 comes together for one final task.





	Here's Hoping We Meet Now and Then

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Summertime_Poet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summertime_Poet/gifts), [flootzavut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flootzavut/gifts), [blue_raven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_raven/gifts).
  * Translation into Deutsch available: [Auf Ein Wiedertreffen, Dann und Wann](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18270914) by [Summertime_Poet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summertime_Poet/pseuds/Summertime_Poet)



> Happy MASH Day 2.0! (it's the day of The Party- March 28th)

When BJ walks into the mess tent the night before they go home, he finds almost the whole camp there. 

It still seems unreal that after tomorrow, he won’t see these people again, the people he’s known for two years. And tonight, everyone lingers over one last cup of terrible coffee, because this is what they know.

Home at this point, is crowded around a battered wooden table in South Korea. 

BJ walks up to the table where Potter and the others are sitting, and says without preamble, “I need your help.”

Potter looks up. “What’s going on, son?”

“It’s Hawkeye.”

Everyone exchanges looks, Charles and Potter both already rising out of their seats. “What’s amiss with Pierce?” Charles asks.

“Did something happen?”

“No, no, he’s fine, he’s… trying to pack.”

Reassured, Charles sits back down, and the focus turns back to BJ, who slides onto the bench next to Margaret. 

“I want your help to do something for Hawkeye. As a… going away present.” The word  _ goodbye  _ still chokes him, still lies heavy on his tongue when he tries to say it, and the wounded way Hawkeye looks at him when he thinks BJ isn’t looking… all the apologies in the world aren’t enough. 

“A going-away present, huh?” Potter asks. “Is this just outta the goodness of your heart, son, or is your conscience starting to nibble at ya?” 

“Pierce was very badly hurt when you left,” Charles says, sliding a cup of coffee down the table to BJ. 

BJ nods his thanks. “I know. And I can’t apologize enough for that. To him most of all, but to all of you as well. And I want to do something for him.”

Klinger leans in. “You can count me in, sir.”

“And myself as well,” Charles agrees. When BJ blinks, he gives him a sarcastic smile. “What, you didn’t think I would?”

“What did you have in mind?” Margaret asks, sipping her own coffee.

“I want to give… him a proper goodbye,” BJ explains haltingly. “The kind I didn’t give him before. From me, from all of us… and from Trapper too.”

“What’s this?” Charles asks with a wry smile. “You, mentioning McIntyre without frothing at the mouth? Unheard of.”

BJ gives him a dark look. “Let’s just say I see his side a little better now.”

“So, son, what exactly did you have planned for this little farewell gift?” Potter asks. “And how can we help?”

“All it takes is rocks, time, and some strong muscles,” BJ reassures them. “Look, I know that you’re all tired, and want to go home, but… I just want to ask this one last thing of you.”

“Goodness knows Pierce is the heart of this camp,” Potter says with a smile. 

“Though he’d hate to admit it,” Margaret agrees. 

“Then we’ll meet at dawn by the signpost,” BJ says. “I’ll even bring coffee.”

Charles sighs into his mug. “God, I cannot wait to have real coffee again. Very well, Hunnicutt.”

~

They’re all still yawning and rubbing at their eyes when they meet in front of the sign the next morning. It’s the last day in Korea, and the weather seems to have gotten the message that peace has been called, because they’re presented with a glorious sunrise.

In other circumstances BJ would be sitting in his cot, watching the sun rise with Hawkeye breathing softly from the other side of the tent.

Instead they’re all standing around, awaiting his instruction. 

“Okay,” he says. “If you’ll all follow me to the helipad?”

They’re all subdued on the walk, mesmerized by the brilliant orange and pink streaking across the sky, walking slowly instead of rushing, and instead of the whir of chopper blades, there’s just the sound of birds calling in the trees.

In this light, at this time of day, Korea is almost beautiful.

And for a second, BJ thinks he might miss it. 

They get to the top, and BJ is distracted. How many times has he stood here, waiting for a chopper to land? How many minutes has he spent standing in this spot staring out across the compound?

“Oh Captain, our captain, your company awaits orders,” Klinger says, and BJ turns around to see that everyone is looking at him. 

He takes a deep breath. “All right, troops, this is it. Operation Abyssinia Hawkeye.”

“Catchy,” Charles murmurs.

“Just for that Charles, I’m putting you on the rocks.”

“Come again?”

BJ grins. “Rocks, Charles. Spelled out to say ‘goodbye’.”

“How disgustingly sentimental,” Charles sighs. He rolls up his sleeves anyway. “All right.”

“Two or three people to a letter, boys and girls!” Sherm suggests. “It’ll go faster that way. More  _ eeficient _ .”

“Exactly Colonel. Any letter you want specifically?”

“I think I’ll take me a pair of  _ o’ _ s. How hard can it be to put rocks in a circle?”

“Perfect,” BJ says. “Klinger, can you help Potter?”

“Sure.”

“Margaret, can you and Father Mulcahy do the  _ D _ ? The nurses can take the  _ B, Y  _ and  _ E,  _ and Charles can help me with the  _ G _ .” There’s a round of nodding, and BJ grins. “Great. We’ll take a coffee break in an hour.”

As he and Charles wander off to grab a wheelbarrow for the rocks, he asks, “Do you think either of you will ever forgive me?”

“I can forgive you for my own sake, Hunnicutt, but for Pierce’s?” Charles shakes his head. “Well, you may know him better than I do, but he was  _ devastated  _ to return and find that you had gone.”

“I never…” BJ starts, and then stops. He can’t say he’d never have left if he’d known, because he would have, because all he could think of was the family he hadn’t seen in two years, instead of the family right in front of him. 

“The two of you may have kissed and made up, but rest assured, Hunnicutt, if you expected me to be on your side in this matter, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

“I understand,” BJ says. “But for the record, Charles, I’m not proud of it.”

“Good. Because  _ proud  _ is the last thing you should be.”

BJ just chuckles tiredly as he picks up the rocks. “You know Charles, you can deny it all you want, but you’re a decent guy. Thank you.”

“The least I could do,” Charles says, and BJ can see they’ve reached a truce. “Now do pick up the pace, Hunnicutt, we don’t have all day.”

He wanders back up the hill, and where he used to whistle, there’s now only silence.

“I take it back!” BJ calls after him, and he thinks he hears a chuckle float back on the summer breeze. 

~

The sun is climbing in the sky by the time they take their break, all of them sprawled in the dirt or sitting on crates, clutching cups of coffee with exhausted gratitude as the sun breaks over their last day here. 

“You think he’ll like it?” Kellye asks BJ from where she’s leaning against one of the crates with Bigelow’s head in her lap. 

“He better,” Bigelow murmurs, eyes closed, “or I’ll break his thumbs.”

“He will,” Potter reassures them, and turns to BJ. “Won’t he, son?”

BJ smiles, and takes a sip of his own coffee. “I sure hope so, Colonel.”

“Hell of a gesture,” Potter says. 

“Nothing less than our Captain Pierce deserves,” Margaret agrees.

“You’re right, Margaret,” BJ tells her. “The place wouldn’t be the same without him, would it?”

“‘Course not, it would be more civilized,” Charles says from his own crate, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes as he says it that betrays his sincerity.

“No, he’s right,” Klinger says, sitting up from where he’s lying in the dirt. “He’s really right. BJ I mean, not Charles. Hawkeye is kind of the heart and soul of this place. He’s helped all of us out at one point or another, hasn’t he?”

There’s murmured agreements from everyone present.

“I remember,” Kellye says thoughtfully, “how he talked everyone into that reunion in the States.”

“Wait a minute,” BJ says, laughing. “I had the idea for that.”

“Yes, Captain, you did, but Hawkeye browbeat all of us into changing our minds about the party,” Klinger explains. “Remember how we all said no, but then turned around and said yes? That was all Hawkeye.”

BJ blinks. “Really?”

Kellye nods. “You know how he gets when he has a cause.”

“I do,” BJ agrees, trying to hide how touched he is.

“You know,” Margaret shakes her head, “it’s silly but as much as he and I used to yell and scream and fight… he’s also been there for me when I needed him. There was one time, when I was still married to that cheap skunk I called a husband, I thought I was going to have a baby, and he was so excited.” She goes quiet with remembrance, and after a minute says quietly, “And he’s a very good friend.”

“Of course!” Baker grins from the dirt, and the mood wavers, as she props herself up on an elbow. “He snuck my husband into camp for a belated honeymoon.”

“What?” Potter asks.

Baker goes pink under his gaze. “I guess that cat is out of the bag. Colonel, do you remember the soldier that Hawkeye and BJ quarantined in Major Houlihan’s tent?”

“Ah, yes, the 24-hour typhus, who could forget?” Potter asks. “Do you mean to tell me they lied, cheated and shenaniganed to get you a honeymoon?”

Baker grins, “Well, sir, it sounds crazy now.”

“That sounds like Pierce,” Potter agrees. “Sneaking around behind everyone’s back to do somethin’ good. Like the time he conspired with my own missus to throw me a housewarming hootenanny.”

“The mortgage burning?” BJ asks, and grins at the memory. “Well we had a hell of a time distracting you long enough to set up the party.”

“Made me realize I ought to put more trust in the lad… and in Mildred. It did assure me of one thing though,” Sherman says, with a smile. “I’ve got quite the family, here and at home.” 

Charles clears his throat, and BJ turns to see an odd look on his face, one that might have tripped over affection at some point. “Though Pierce and I are hardly best friends, he is an admirable surgeon, and a tolerable roommate.”

“Is that all you got?” Bigelow asks lazily, as Kellye plays with her hair.

“No. It was merely a prelude to the truth… I am lucky to have Pierce’s trust, and his friendship, however reluctantly it was acquired. He was a great comfort to me after losing a patient,” Charles says, and smiles. “And though I’d never tell him, he’s a good man. I was able to confide in him in ways I’ve never been able to with anyone else here.”

“Well, I can’t top that,” Klinger says, making everyone laugh. “But he has a special way about him, you know? And he always says the nicest thing about my dresses. Kept me from re-enlisting once too. I think we all need a Hawkeye sometimes.” 

“Hear, hear,” Potter agrees.

Mulcahy, who’s been sitting quietly, watching everyone, speaks up, his voice shaky. “Hawkeye has always been the one to reassure me that I have a place here, that I have purpose. He doesn’t serve a god besides medicine, but God would be lucky to have him."

“I don’t know about God,” BJ says at last, looking back out over the camp, down to the Swamp where Hawkeye is probably still tossing and turning, “but I’m lucky to have him. He saved my life, my sanity… I wouldn’t have made it as far as the compound without him. And… he always knew how to take home and bring it here. Like that anniversary film he and Peggy made for me.”

“I think Klinger hit it on the head,” Potter says with a nod. “We should all have a Hawkeye Pierce.”

“Do you think this is enough of a ‘thank you’?” Baker asks, prodding one of the rocks with her toe. 

“No,” BJ says honestly. “I don’t know if anything ever will be. But it’s a start.”

“And a new beginning is what we need,” Potter says. “But first, a toast, to the man who kept this place in one piece: Hawkeye Pierce.”

They all raise their coffee cups in salute, surrounded by rocks that spell out  _ GOODBYE  _

as the sun rises on Korea. 

**Author's Note:**

> "Here's Hoping We'll Meet Now and Then" is one of the possible titles for the finale, which ended up being "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen"  
> ♥


End file.
